Thursday, 4:30 PM
South Boston men hit with civil rights injunction after alleged attack
By Globe Staff
Two South Boston men have been issued a civil rights injunction after they were accused of a racially motivated attack earlier this month on three men of Moroccan descent, according to a statement issued today by the state attorney general's office.
Kenneth Rooney and Neil Woodworth, both 27, are accused of berating the three men with racial slurs after they were heard speaking Arabic at the Avenue Bar and Grill in Allston on April 2. Authorities said that when the pair was ejected from the restaurant, they waited outside and attacked the three men, kicking and beating them with a stick and a belt. One of the victims suffered a severe head wound and was hospitalized, according to the statement.
Police arrested Rooney and Woodworth. Criminal charges are pending.
The injunction, granted by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly on Monday, adds a penalty of up to 10 years in prison if the men are convicted of "intimidating or coercing the victims or anyone else ... on the basis of actual or perceived race, ethnicity or national origin." The order also bars Rooney and Woodworth from knowingly going within 500 yards of the victims' homes or places of work.
